Vietnam

The Vietnam War was the longest war in the history of the United States, and was a conflict that divided our country. The Vietnam conflict started when the French asked the United States for help in keeping their colony of Vietnam, but the US refused as it "regarded the war as France's problem and what France deserved for her colonial ambitions." (Stoessinger, pg. 82) It wasn't until the Soviet "iron curtain" reigned over Europe and divided the East and West even greater as well as the fall of China to Communism, that President Truman decided to stretch his policy of "containment" to Vietnam and gave France economic and military aid. Under the Eisenhower administration, aid increased to the United States paying about one-half of the cost of the war. France finally lost the war, and with the formation of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO), three independent countries of Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam were formed. Ho Chi Minh agreed to a general election held in Vietnam in two years for its political unification because it would be an easy victory for him. His opponent, Ngo Dinh Diem, was strongly supported by the United States when he declared, "since South Vietnam had not signed the Geneva Accords, he (Diem) was not prepared to permit elections under the conditions specified by them." (Stoessinger, pg. 89) This angered Ho Chi Minh who then began to train his communist fighters for a guerrilla war. President Kennedy increased the United States' involvement in Vietnam greatly by raising the number of military advisors to 17,000 at the time of his death. President Johnson made the commitment of authorizing to send "Ð'...massive combat troops to the war in Vietnam." (Stoessinger, pg. 94) Since the introduction of these troops along with massive bombings still did not defeat the enemy, there was one final response from Johnson: "to meet the Vietcong challenge head on with American combat troops on the ground." (Stoessinger, pg. 98) President Nixon issued the foreign policy of "Vietnamization" during his presidency to withdraw American troops and slowly hand the war over to the South Vietnamese. President Kennedy immediately began withdrawing troops, and later Congress repealed the Tonkin Gulf Resolution. Finally on January 23, 1973, a cease-fire was reached with the Paris Accords, which withdrew all American troops, and provided consultations between South and North Vietnam on general elections.

The United States foreign policy concerning Vietnam originally intended for the US not to get involved until Communism spread throughout Europe then to China. The United States, becoming more concerned about containing Communism, allowed this fear of the "domino theory" to overcome each President's decisions. Therefore Truman put a policy of containment in Indochina and the redefined the French as "defenders of the West". President Eisenhower began comparing Vietnam with the Korean War and therefore was convinced that China would intervene in the Indochina war on the side of Ho Chi Minh against France. This fear of intervention caused Eisenhower to increase military aid to France by a significant amount. Rumors of an impending intervention were taken with more seriousness than they should have been. Ho Chi Minh's policy with China and the Soviet Union was one of balance as he accepted enough only enough aid that was not decisive at all to his war effort. After the general election of 1956 in Vietnam fell apart, "the Vietminh saw the Americans as following the course of French imperialism, and the Americans perceived Geneva as a well-laid Communist trap to engulf all of Vietnam." (Stoessinger, pg. 89) Under Kennedy's leadership, the role of the US went from one of a marginal commitment to one of a direct involvement. The main reason for this increase is due to Kennedy's Joint Chiefs of Staff that thought Vietnam was a military, not political, problem that could be resolved using the superior technology of the United States and would guarantee a victory in a short period of time. What they didn't anticipate was the relentlessness of the Vietcong and their willingness to die for their country, while the South Vietnamese army wasn't nearly as motivated.

Johnson, with his ego and stubbornness, came to the presidency and unleashed a major American land-war in Indochina, an act that he would later regret and one that would divide his own country. Totally blinded by his pride and convinced that Ho Chi Minh would eventually surrender, Johnson escalated the bombing in Vietnam. He did not realize that Vietnam was not a war against communism, but was a revolutionary war for which the Vietcong were the revolutionists and thus had a greater reason to fight and die than the South Vietnamese or the United States soldiers. Ho had much less to lose by continuing to fight while the stakes increased for the United States, thus time was always on Ho's side. Ultimately, Johnson's presidency was destroyed by his ego, pride, and blindness from seeing the real issues of the war. Under Nixon's presidency, the policy of "Vietnamization" came into effect. He realized that the United States was in an irregular position of having reached dÐ"©tente with 1 billion Communists (Russians and Chinese) while it pursued a war with an insignificant country only because it was Communist. Nixon then signed the Paris Accords that withdrew all American troops. Each president let his fears and hopes shape his policy towards Vietnam, and totally underestimated the tenacity of the Vietcong and their plight. In effect, each president left the problem of Vietnam in worse condition than they had acquired it.

The conflict between Israel and the Arab countries started after mass immigration of Israelis reached an uncomfortable level for the Arabs who owned that land. They started placing a ceiling on Jewish immigration in order to prevent a Zionist movement in Palestine. However, despite this restriction, many Jews still managed to enter Palestine. In 1947, the United Nations Committee on Palestine made a division of the land: one would become a Jewish state with 55 percent of the land and would be 58 percent Jewish; while the remaining 45 percent would be an Arab state containing 99 percent Arabs. This partition was favored by the Jews and equally resented by the Arabs. After the resolution was adopted, seven Arab states pledged weapons, volunteers, and money to start a guerrilla war against the Zionists in Palestine. In April of 1948, Jewish extremists massacred a small Arab village near Jerusalem called Deir Yassin. After a failed peace effort, on May 15th, Israel was invaded by Egypt, Transjordan, Syria, and Lebanon. Although the Jews seemed outnumbered, they came out

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